Illustrations of madness : exhibiting a singular case of insanity, and a no less remarkable difference in medical opinion : developing the nature of assailment... with a description of the tortures experienced by bomb-bursting, lobster-cracking, and lengthening the brain ...

YALE

UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

TRANSFERRED TO
YALE MEDICAL LIBRARY
HISTORICAL LIBRARY

^ ' V

>■ ! ',.J

■

I

A,''

■

^■V.,,-‘*

,V. »

'■\ . ■

.. ij, ■/)'■; ' _ . ' ^. ;^-"

’iri!'

■t.

f

' ■?,«

%

ILLUSTRATIONS

OP

MADNESS :

EXHIBITING A SINGULAR CASE OF INSANITY,

AND A NO LESS

REMARKABLE DIFFERENCE

IN

MEIDICAL OPINION;

DEVELOPING

THE NATURE OF ASSAILMENT,

AND THE MANNER OP

WORKING EVENTS;

WITH A

DESCniPTION OF THE TORTURES EXPERIENCED
BY

BOMB-BURSTING, LOBSTER-CRACKING,

AND

LENGTHENING THE BRAIN.

EMBELLISHED WITH A CURIOUS PLATE.

BY JOHN HASLAM.

t»l

Oh! Sir, there are, in this town, Mountebanks for the mind, as well
as the body.**— jFbo^e’5 Devil upon Two Sticks ; Scene the last*

ILontwn:

PRINTED BY G. HAYDEN, BRYDGES-STREET, COVENT-GAUDEN :

And Sold by

RIVINCiTONS^RT.PAUL’S church-yard; ROBINSONS, PATERNOSTER-ROW;
CALLOW, CROWN-COURT, PRI NC F.S-STR EET, SOHO;

MURRAY, fleet-street; AND GREENLAND, FINSBU RY-SQUARF.

ISIO.

■■■

' r/i '

■ ■■
• .*’ , jt*--* >. '-•■

u

. i;,-- .j.. i 4- 4,

► 4 I ■. r . y J-, ■ , .- jr- , « 'T4

\ -

"4

,' -i

> 1 *

( V

1

PREFACE.

The publication of the following case is
deemed as much an act of justice, as it'
may be regarded a matter of curiosity. It
may possibly effect some good, by turning
the attention of medical men to the subject
of professional etiquette, and to a conside-
ration of those nice feelings and reciprocal
charities, which confer on the practitioners
of medicine the amiable distinction of a
fraternity.

If it should merely succeed in curbing
the fond propensity to form hasty conclu-
sions, or tend to moderate the mischief of

b

VI

PREFACE.

privileged opinion, the purpose is sufKciently
answ^ered.

From the temperate exposure of facts
which the Writer has adopted, it can never
be supposed that his views are hostile. The
Brethren are unknown to him, and probably
mav never condescend to notice him beyond
an occasional recollection : but if, contrary
to his expectation, the Reader, throughout
this narrative, should suspect a sneer, the
benevolence of the Writer allows him to
soften and correct it by a smile.

Of the history and opinions of the Insane,
much curious matter is dispersed, and might
advantageously be collected from works of
various descriptions : most authors (gene-
rally without design) have ' contributed
something ; and if such scattered materials
were gleaned into a volume, the “ Use and
Improvement of Madness in a Common-
wealth” might be sooner and more clearly
ascertained.

In Germany, Mr. Spiess has published
four volumes of the biography of insane

PREFACE.

•Vll

persons*, which have been perused with
much interest, and deserve to ^ be rendered
into English : and in our own country there
exists a learned monument of madness, dis-
tinguished by abrupt transitions, a generous
reconciliation of discordant circumstances,
with a felicitous remembrance of transactions
that never occurred, and which constitute
the broad features of genuine insanity. That
the reader may duly appreciate the labours
of this gentleman, an extract is submitted
to his candid consideration ■j'.

“ I conclude with offering an interpre-
tation of a few lines from a part of the 3d
^Eneid, which, according to what is said in
' my former Notes, p. 140, to which Notes I

* Biographien der Wahnsinnigen, von Krist. Hein*
rich Spiess, Leipzig, 1795.

+ Vide u A Supplement to Notes on the Ancient
Method of Treating the Fever of Andalusia, now called
the Yellow Fever, deduced from an Explanation of the
Hieroglyphics painted upon the Cambridge Mummy, by
Robert Deverell, Esq. M. P. May 19, 1806,” page 38.
It is a subject of regret that these scaree and luminoiis
pages were privately printed.

vin

PREFACE.

again here refer, has a particular relation to
the whole of this subject :

176 Corripio h stratis corpus, tendoque supinas
Ad coelum cum voce raanus, et munera libo
Intemerata focis : perfecto laetus honore
Anchisen facio certum remque ordine pando.
Agnovit prolem ambiguam gemuiosque parentes
Seque novo veterum deceptum errore locorum.

Turn memorat —

t

the meaning of which I venture to unriddle
as follows : supposing (to speak as Virgil
does, in the first person) I have a patient
attacked bj a contagious pestilential disease
(its contagion being implied by the litter of
straw, e stratis, in which he lies), I take up
his body from thence, without a moment’s
delay (corripio), and curry it (corripio), or
tan it (tendo), from the back and spine
(as implied perhaps by the French dos,
tergum, in tendo, and by supinas) to the
poll or hollow part of the head (that hol-
low part being pointed to by the Greek
word tloiKov, idem quod coelum), or, in other
words, by administering the bark externally
to those parts (the bark being implied in
the word manus, by a reference to the

1

PREFACE.

IX

Andes), as the patient lies supine, with his
face turned to the skies, in a bath which
comes level with his mouth (cum voce),
the great heat of which bath is denoted
by (focis), as its containing an infusion
of purifying aromatic herbs may be by
(munera intemerata), though these words,
as coupled with (libo), should at the
same time seem to imply the patient’s
drinking a quantity of hot tea (implied
perhaps by te, in intemerata). After he
has thus lain in the bath a full hour (per-
fecto honore) with the fires that heat it
well lighted, or strongly burning (laetus) ;
I produce the effect of ensuring (facio cer-
tum) the ague-fit (implied by Anchisen,
near the ice, or a fit nearly allied to ice in
its nature), and thus in due order acquire a
key to the fever (remque ordine pando) ;
or these last words may perhaps imply
(and then in due order resort to the use of
cathartics). Of the next two lines, the
first seems to intimate that the patient, in
consequence of such a process, shews the
twofold nature of his complaint, cold and
hot, ague and fever ; and the second, when

X

PREFACE.

coupled with the context, that the disease
is contracted by a change of climate, viz.
that of Europe for that of the West Indies.
The two last words (turn memorat) inti-
mate that, when that point of the process is
attained, the bark (implied by a reference
to the river Mamore, on which the tree
producing it grows) is afterwards to be
taken internally, in order to a completion
of the cure.”

That the author of the Andalusia and
Supplement is a formidable rival to the spe-
cimen now to be produced, cannot in fair-
ness be denied, but in the comparison some
“ partial fondness” induces me to think, that
“ the superiority must, with some hesitation,
be allowed to Mr.Matthews.” “ If the flights
of Matthews, therefore, are higher, Deve-
rell continues longer on the wing. Mat-
thews often surpasses expectation, and De-
verell never falls below it.”

It only remains to mention that these
opinions have been collected from the
patient since the termination of the legal

PREFACE.

XI

proceedings ; and to inform the intelli-
gent reader that, where inverted commas
are used, the manuscript of Mr. Matthews
has been faithfully copied ; and that, for
thus introducing his philosophic opinions to
the notice of a discerning public, he feels
“ contented and grateful.” '

Betklem Hospital,
Nov. 2 , 1810 .

JOHN HASLAM.

Vi'

i

iLLtiSTRATIONS

OF

MADNESS,

James tilly Matthews, whose

opinions chiefly form the subject of the
follovving pages, was admitted a patient
into Bethlem Hospital, by a petition from
the parish officers of Camberwell, on the
28 th of January, I797. Although his
insanity was then most evident, yet his
relatives did not possess the faculty of
perceiving his disorder. They employed
an attorney, and by a legal process he was
ordered on the second of May following
to be brought to the dwelling house
of the late Lord Kenyon, in Lincoln’s

B

2 ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

Inn Fields, who, after conversing wdth him,
was perfectly satisfied that he was a
maniac, and desired him to be remanded
to his former custody. On the 2 1 st
January 1798, he was placed on the incu-
rable establishment. In this situation he
continued for many years ; sometimes, an
automaton moved by the agency of persons,
hereafter to be introduced to the notice of
the reader ; at others, the Emperor of the
whole world, issuing proclamations to his
disobedient subjects, and hurling from their
thrones the usurpers of his dominions.

In the year I809 his relatives again
interfered, and confiding in their own
opinion, that he w'as of sound mind, and
possessed the proper direction of his intel-
lects, requested that he might be discharged.
They also made application to the Church-
wardens and Overseers of the parish of
Camberwell, who, in the first instance, had

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

3

been compelled to confine him in conse-
quence of an order from the magistrates of
Bow Street. These parish officers visited
the lunatic, and being competent judges of
the subject, demanded his release, on the
pretence that he was perfectly recovered.

To confirm their opinion of the rational
state of Mr. Matthews, the relatives employ-
ed two learned and conscientious Physicians,
gentlemen deeply conversant with this
disease, and doubtless instructed by copious
experience to detect the finer shades and
more delicate hues of intellectual disorder.

After repeated and wary examinations of
the lunatic’s mind, narrowly scrutinizing
into his most recondite opinions, and del-
ving into the recesses of his thoughts, they
pronounced him to be perfectly in his
senses, and sanctified such decision by the
following affidavit, and holy affirmation.

4

Illustrations of madness.

I7^ the Kmg's Be?ich.

HENRY CLUTTERBUCK, of
Bridge Street, BlacKfriars, in the
City of London, Doctor of Medicine,
maJceth oath and saith, that he hath
had four * intervieivs of considerable
length with James Tilly Mattheivs ;
at one * of which Doctor Munro rvas
present ; that this deponent coidd
not discover any thing that indi-
cated insanity in the said James
Tilly Matthews, and he verily be-
lieves him to be perfectly sane.

HENRY CLUTTERBUCK.

Siuorn in Court, this'

Twenty-seventh Day ^
of November, I809. .

By the Court.

* See (*) page 7,

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

5

the Kings Bench.

GEORGE BIRKBECK, of Cat-
eaton Street, in the City of London,
Doctor of Medicine, upon his solemn
affirmation saith, that he hath paid
six visits professionally to James Tilly
Matthews, now under confinement in
Bethlem Hospital. That during these
visits he has attempted hy every mode
ofi examination ivhich he could devise,
to discover the real state ofi the mind
ofi the said James Tilly Matthews,
and that the result of such repeated,
careful, and unprejudiced examina-
tions, has been a conviction, that the
said James Tilly Matthews is not
insane. That in order to corroborate
or to rectify this conclusion, he applied
to Dr. Munro, the Physician to the
Hospital aforesaid, for information^

6

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

lohether, hy his hnoii'lecJ ge and obser-
vation of the said James Tidy Mat-
thews, he had been put in possession
of any particular subject or subjects,
tvhich, on being mentioned vAthin his
hearing, did produce maniacal hallu-
cination, and tvhich this affirmant
might not have been enabled to disco-
ver in the course of these conferences
ivith Mr. Matthews P to tvhich question
Doctor Munro replied, that he was
not acquainted with any such subject,
but that he believed him to be insane
upon all. To render this investi-
gatioti more satisfactory and conclu-
sive to this affirmant, it was agreed,
that on the following Saturday he
should meet the said Doctor Munro
together, to see and converse ivith
Mr. Matthews. 2 his meeting tooh
place accordingly; Doctor Clutter-
buck (who accompanied this affirmant

* ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

7

professionally in four* of the visits
before mentioned J* being also present.
That neither in this conference, nor in
a conversation with Dr. Munro imme-
diately subsequent thereto, (Mr. Mat-
thews having left the room in which it
took place ) did any thing occur to
alter the opinion of this affrinant as
already expressed ; but, on the con-
trary, that opinion was strengthened
by these communications. And this
affirmant further saith, that the said
Dr. Munro, after finding the reasons
advanced by him for the purpose of
establishing the insanity of Mr. Mat-
thews unsatisfactory to this qffirmanfs
mind, did, near the conclusion of the
interview above mentioned, declare,
that although he might not succeed in
convincing them, ( Doctor Clidterbuclc
and this affirmant ) or any other per-
son, that Mr. Matthews was deranged.

8

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

he had a feeling on which lie could
relg, that Mr. Matthews was insane,
or words of the same import. And
this affirmant further saith, that the
most prominent circumstances adduced
in proof of the insanity of Mr. Mat-
thews, referred' to parts of his pro-
tracted confinement, not including
ivithin the last six years, ivith the ex-
ception of his inflexible resistance to
the admission of his alledged insanity,
and to the customary expression of
thanhs for the benefits received in
the hospital, together with his un-
abated antipathy against the physician
and apothecary , to whose care he
had been entrusted, during his long
confinement. That the circumstances
stated tvere*not, in this affirmajit's
judgment, sufficient proofs of insanity,
and therefore it is still the opinion and
belief of this affirmant, that the mind

ILtrSTRATIOKS OF MADNESS.

9

of the said James Tilly Matthews is

SOU7ld.

GEORGE BIRKBECK,

Affirmed in Court, this^

Twenty-seventh Day ^
of November, I809. J

By the Court.

Thus armed, the relatives moved for a
Habeas Corpus, in order that the said J.T. M.
should be discharged,

It may here be proper to state that it had
been the unvarying opinion of the medical
olticers of Bethlem Hospital, that Mr. Mat-
thews had been insane from the period of
his admission to the present time. Such
opinion was not the result of casual investi-
gation ; but a conclusion deduced from daily

10

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

observation during thirteen years. But a-
M'are of the fallibility of human judgment,
and suspecting that copious expeiience
- which sheds the blessings of light upon
others, might have kept them in the dark :
perhaps startled at the powerful talents,
extensive learning, and subtile penetration
which had recorded in the face of day the
sanity of a man wdiom they considex-ed as
an incurable lunatic : and flinching at an
oath contradictory to such high testimony,
the medical officers prudently inferred the
determination of the case to the constituted
and best authorities in the kingdom. For
this purpose they assembled a consultation
of eminent medical practitioners, who, after
a deliberate examination of the patient’s
mind, made oath in the following manner :

ILLUSTRATION'S OF MADNESS.

11

111 the Kings Bench.

SIR LUCAS PEPYS, of Upper
Brook Street, Grosvenor Square,
in the County of Middlesex, Bart.
Doctor of Medicine, Physician to His
Majesty, President of the College of
Physicia?7s, and one of the Conimis-
siofiei's for visiting insane patients at
private houses ;

ROBERT DARLING mLLIS,
of Tenter den Street, Hanover Square,
Doctor of Medicine, Fellow of the
Royal College af Physicians ;

SAMUEL FOART SIMMONS,
of Poland Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Doctor of Medicine, Phy-
sician to St. Luke's Hospital ;

lO

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

RICHARD BUDD, of Craven
Street, in the Strand, Doctor of Me-
dicine, Elect and Treasurer, and one
of the Fellows of the Royal College of
Physicians, and also one of the Com-
missioners for visiting insane patients
as aforesaid ;

HENRY AINSLF.Y, of Dover
Street, Piecaddly, Doctor of Medi-
cine, Fellow of the Royal College of
Physicians, and one of the Commis-
sioners as aforesaid ;

JAMES HAWORTH, of Bedford
' Row, in the County of Middlesex,
Doctor of Medicine, Fellow of the
College of Physicians, and, one of the
Commissioners as aforesaid ;

WILLIAM LAMBE, of the King's
Road, Bedford Row, Doctor of Medi-

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

1 ^

cine. Fellow, of the Royal College of
Physicians, and one of the Committee
as aforesaid, [being the ivhole of the
Commissioners appointed by the Royal
College of Physicians for visiting in-
sane persons at private houses ;)

RICHARD POfVELL, of Essex
Street, in the Stra?id, Doctor of Medi-
cine, Fellow of the Royal College of
Physicians, and Secretary to the said
Commissioners ;

Severally make oath and say,
that they had, on IFednesday, the
2Qth day of ^November instant, a long
examination of the patient, James
Tilley Matthews, at Bethlem Hospi-
tal, and that they took considerable
pains in ascertaining the state of his
mind, and that it is their positive and

14

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

decided opinion, as the result of such
examination, that the patient is in a
most deranged state of intellect, and
wholly unfit to be at large.

Sivorn at my Chambers, Serjeant's Inn, by

SIR LUCAS PEPYS,

ROBERT DARLING WILLIS,
SAMUEL FOART SIMMONS,
RICHARD BUDD,

HENRY AINSLEY,

' JAMES HAWORTH,
WILLIAM LAM BE,
RICHARD POWELL,

the above-named Deponents, this ZOth Day
of November, I809, before me,

S, Le BLANC.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

15

This corroboration of Mr. Matthews’ in-
sanity, by the highest and most respectable
testimony, gave a different complexion to
the case, and also suggested some reflections.

Madness being the opposite to reason and
good sense, as light is to darkness, straight
to crooked, &c. it appears wonderful that
two opposite opinions could be entertained
on the subject : allow ing each party to pos-
sess the ordinary faculties common to human
beings in a sound and healthy state, yet such
is really the fact : and if one party be right,
the other must be wrong ; because a person
cannot correctly be said to be in his senses
and out of his senses at the same time.

But there is considerable difflculty and
some danger in applying logic to facts^
Every person who takes the degree of Doc-
tor becomes, in consequence of taking such
degree, a learned man ; and it is libellous to

16

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MAD^’ESS.

pronounce him ignorant. It is true, a DoC^
tor may be blind, deaf and dumb, stupid of
mad, but still his Diploma shields him from
the imputation of ignorance*. It has also ^
not unfrequently occurred, that a man who
has been dubbed a Doctor of Medicine at
Leyden, Aberdeen, or St. Andrews, and
whose Diploma sets forth his profound
learning, accomplishments, and competence
to practise on the lives of His Majesty’s good
and faithful subjects, has been found inca-
pable of satisfying the gentlemen in War-
wick Lane that he possessed the common
rudiments of his profession, and has been
by them accordingly rejected : so that learn-
ing in many instances appears to be local.

Presuming Drs Birkbeck and Clutterbuck
to be very learned in their profession, and,

The feeblest intellect I ever commiserated was % (

Doctor ofLaws from the University of Glasgow.

illustrations of madness.

17

if possible, still more learned out of it, jinit-
ing many rare talents, and distinguished by
extrinsic acquisitions,

Grammaticus, Rhetor, Geometres, Pictor, Aliptes
“ Augur, Schoenobates, JMedicus, Magus^ ”

Conceding so much, it should follow,
that if Mr. Matthews were mad, Messrs.
Birkbeck and Co. ought to have discovered
it ; but the admission of such an inference
would be destructive of their veracity : for
had they found him to be a madman, it is
to be hoped they never would stiffly and
point blank have sworn him to be in his
senses. How they could fail to detect his
insanity is inexplicable, as his disorder was
evident to all who saw and conversed with
him ; even his ^G\\ow-students'^ derided the
absurdity of his doctrine : — however, it
should be recollected that these gentlemen

c

* Is any student tearing his straw in piece-meal,
swearing and blaspheming, biting his grate, foaming at
the mouth. Sec . — Vide Tale of a Tub, page 17S, edit.
1704 .

18

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

have much practical experience, and arc
competent judges of all systems of error
.but their own.

It appears, these Doctors generally visited
him in conjunction : perhaps they might
have succeeded better, if they had examin-
ed him separately ; for it is within the
range of possibility that the judgment may
have been warped by the courtesy, or
clouded by the formality of a consultation —

As two spent swimmers,

“ That do cling together, and choke their art.”

It may here be allowable to state, that if
Drs. Birkbeck and Co. had, in the first in-
stance, made application to the medical
officers of the hospital, and announced their
object, they would have been received with
the urbanity due to professional gentlemen,
and furnished with every information ; but
they preferred a silent approach and secret
inquisition.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS. 19

In the ordinary language of our courts
of law, the relatives took nothing by
their motion ; nor is it my intention to
bestow a single sentence on their conduct —
the practice of the two Doctors shall be left
to the humane construction of the Christian
reader ; and to finish the paragraph, the
churchwardens and overseers of the parish
of Camberwell may be supposed to have
acted most conscientiously; and that the
convenience of being disburthenedof a pau-
per lunatic never entered their thoughts.

I shall now proceed to develope the pe-
culiar opinions of Mr. Matthews, and leave
the reader to exercise his own judgment
concerning them.

Mr. M. insists that in some apartment
near London Wall, there is a gang of vil-
lains profoundly skilled in Pneumatic Che-
mistry, who assail him by means of an Air

20

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

Loom. A description of this formidable
instrument will be given hereafter ; but he
is persuaded that an account of it is to be
found in Chambers’s Dictionary, edited by
Dr, Rees in 1783 , under the article Loom,
and that its figure is to be seen in one of
the plates relating to Pneumatics.

It is unnecessary to tell the reader that
he w ill fruitlessly search that work for such
information.

The assailing gang consits of seven mem-
bers, fourofwhom are men and threewomen.
Of these persons four are commonly resident,
and two have never stirred abroad since he
has been the subject of their persecution.
Of their general habits little is known ;
occasionally they appear in the streets, and
by ordinary persons would be taken to be
pick-pockets or private distillers. They
leave home to correspond with others of

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

21

Ihcir profession ; hire themselves out as
spies, and discover the secrets of govern-
ment to the enemy, or confederate to work
events of the most atrocious nature. At
home they lie together in promiscuous
intercourse and filthy commuhity.

The principal of this crew, is named Bill, or
the King : he formerly surpassed the rest in
skill, and in the dexterity with which he
worked the machine : he is about 64 or 5
years of age, and in person resembles ^le
late Dr. De Valangin, but his features are
coarser; perhaps, he is a nearer likeness to
the late Sir William Pultney, to whom he is
made a duplicate. It was on accoimt of some-
thing worked by this wretch, that another, by
the force of assailme?it*, actuated Rhynwick
AVilliams to the commisssion of his mons-
trous practices. He also took Hadfield in

* This .term, which frequently occurs, and is not to
be found in our dictionaries, either originates with
Mr. M. or is extracted from the vocabulary of the pneu*
matic gang.

22

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

tow, by means of magnetic impregnation^,
and compelled him to fire the Pistol at His
Majesty in the theatre : but on this subject
there is a difference of opinion, as some of
the female part of the gang attribute this
event to Blue-Mantle, of whom nothing
farther is known. In working the machine
Bill exerts the most unrelenting and murder-
ous villany ; and he has neverbeen observed
to smile.

The next in order, is a being called Jaclt

# .

the Schoolmaster, who is the short-hand-

writer to the gang : he styles himself the

recorder ; somewhat tall, and about 6o
years of age. It is not well ascertained if he
wear a wig, but he generally appears in the
act of shoving his wig back with his fore-
finger, and frequently says, “So you shall,
when you can ketch (catch) us at it.” Some-
times he says, “ I’m to see fair play,” and
makes a merriment of the business. Jack
has very seldom worked the machine.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

23

The third person is Sir Archy, who is
about 55 years of age, wears a drab-
coloured coat, and, according to the old
fashion, his breeches button between the
legs. Some of the gang assert that Sir
Archy is a woman dressed in men’s apparel ;
and whenever Mr. Matthews has endea-
voured, by enquiry, to ascertain this fact.
Sir Archy has answered in a manner so
quaint and indelicate that I cannot venture
to communicate his reply. He is considered
as the common liar of the gang ; a low-
minded blackguard, always cracking obscene
jokes and throwing out gibes and sarcasms.
In his speech there is an affectation of a
provincial accent, so that when Mr. M. as-
serts the truth of any fact. Sir Archy replies
yho (you) are misteaken (mistaken) He
constantly stays in the apartment,, and says
he does not work the machine, but only
uses a magnet. His mode of communicat-
ing with Mr. M. is principally by “ brahi~

1

21 ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

sayings," which term will be afterwards
explained.

The last of the males is termed the Mid-
dle Ma?i, who is about 5 7 years of age, of
the middle stature, with a broad chest ; has
a twang of the hawk countenance, not
pockfretten, and much resembling the late
Mr. Smeaton the engineer. He is dressed
in a blue coat, with a plain waistcoat. It is

said that he is a manufacturer of air-looms,

0

and possesses the first rate skill in working
this instrument. Altho’ he is unrelenting
in his persecution of Mr. M. he appears to
consider it as sport, and sits grinning, appa-
rently delighted that he cannot be taken
unawares. After his attacks, he generally
observes that Mr. M. is the talisman ; then
Sir Archy replies, with a sneer, “ Yes, he
is the talisman.”

Among the females who compose this

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

2.5

establishment, Augusta may first be des-
cribed. She is about 30 years ot age, of the
middle stature, and her countenance is dis-
tinguished by the sharpness of its features.
In person she is not fleshy, nor can she be
said to be a thin woman; she is not full-
breasted. Ordinarily dressed, as a country
tradesman’s wife, in black, without powder.
Augusta seldom woi'ks the machine, but
frequently goes abroad to correspond with
other gangs at the West end of the town.
Of agreeable deportment, and at first seems
very friendly and cajoling; but when she
finds that she cannot influence and convince,
becomes exceedingly spiteful and malignant.
Her object is to influence vvomen by her
brain-sayings ; and she states herself to b6'
the chief of this department. Within the
last seven years the virulence of her temper
has been considerably exasperated.

Charlotte, the next in review, is about the

26

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

same age as Augusta, and also of the middle
stature, but more fleshy ; has the appear-
ance of a French woman, being a kind of
ruddy brunette. She constantly stays at
home with Sir Arcby, and complains that
she is forcibly confined to this situation.
They keep her nearly naked, and poorly fed.
Mr. Matthews is led to suppose that she is
chained ; for she has sometimes stated her-
self Co be equally a prisoner with himself.
Charlotte always speaks French, but her
language and hrain-sayings are conveyed in
an English idiom. Her character is that of
a steady, persevering sort of person, who is
convinced of the impropriety of her con-
duct, but cannot help herself. For several
j^^years she has not worked the machine, but
is a fixed and established reporter.

A very extraordinary lady compleats this
malicious group. She does not appear to
have any Christian name, but by the gang

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

27

is termed the Glove Woman, as she con-
stantly wears cotton-mittens. Sir Archy
dryly insinuates that she keeps her arms
thus covered because she has got the itch.
She is about 48 years of age, is above the
middle height, and has a sharp face. On
her chin and upper lip there is a consider-
able quantity of fine downy hair, and she is
somewhat pockfretten. Always dressed in
a common fawn-coloured Norwich gown,
with a plain cream-coloured camblet shawl,
and wears a chip hat covered with black silk.
The glove woman is remarkable for her skill
in managing the machine. She frequently
goes abroad. The rest of the gang, but
particularly Sir Archy, are constantly ban-
tering and plucking at her, like a number of
rooks at a strange jack-daw : she has never
been known to speak.

Having described the dramatis personce,
it is expedient to mention the different pre-

28

ILLUSTRATIONS OF SIADNESS.

parations which are cmplojed in the air-
loom, by these pneumatic adepts, tor the
purposes of assailment.

Seminal fluid, male and female— Effluvia
of copper — ditto of sulphur — the vapours of
vitriol and aqua fortis — ditto of nightshade
and hellebore — effluvia of dogs — stinking
human breath — putrid effluvia — ditto of
mortification and of the plague— stench of
the sesspool — gaz from the arms of the
horse — human gaz — gaz of the horse’s
greasy heels — Egyptian snuff, (this is a
dusty vapour, extremely nauseous, but its
co^nposition has not been hitherto ascer-
tained*) — vapour and effluvia of arsenic —

♦ This disgusting odour is exclusively employed
during sleep, when, by their dream-workings, they have
placed him, as a solitary wanderer, in the marshes
near the .mouth of the. river Nile ; not at that season
when its waters bring joy and refreshment, but at its
lowest ebb, when the heat is ijiost oppresstve, and the

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

§9

poison of load — otto of roses and of car-
nation.

The effects which are produced on Mr.
Matthews by the skilful manipulation of
these ingredients are according to his rela-
tion dreadful in the extreme. He has stated
them in the technical language of the
assailing gang, and explained their opera-
tion on his intellect and person. Whoever
peruses a work on Nosology will be pain-
fully impressed with its formidable catalogue
of human miseries ; it therefore becomes
exceedingly distressing to swell the volume
with a list of ealamities hitherto unheard

muddy and stagnant pools diffuse a putrid and suffocat-
ing stench ; — the eye is likewise equally disgusted with ■
the face of the country, which is made to assume a hate-
ful tinge, resembling the dirty and cold blue of a scor-
butic ulcer. From this cheerless scene they suddenly
awake him, when he finds his nostrils stuffed, his mouth
furred, and himself nearly choaked by the poisonous
effects of their Egyptian snuff.

30

ILLUSTHATIONS OF MADNESS;

of, and for which no remedy has been yet
discovered.

Fluid Locking . — A locking or constric-
tion of the fibres of the root of the tongue,
laterally, by which the readiness of speech
is impeded.

Cutting soul from sense . — A spreading of
the magnetic warp, chilled in its expansion,
from the root of the nose, diffused under the
basis of the brain, as if a veil were inter-
posed ; so that the sentiments of the

heart can have no communication with the
/

operations of the intellect.

•r-

Stone-making . — The gang pretend they
can at pleasure produce a precipitation in
the bladder of any person impregnated, and
form a calculus. They boast of having-
effected this in a very complete manner for
the late Duke of Portland.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

31

Thigh-talking. — To effect tljis, they con-
trive so to direct their voice-sayh7gs on the
external part of the thigh, that the person
assailed is conscious that his organ of hear-
ing, with all its sensibility, is lodged in that
situation. The sensation is distinctly felt in
the thigh, and the subject understood in the
brain.

Kiteing . — This is a very singular and dis-
tressing mode of assailment, and much prac-
tised by the gang. As boys raise a kite in
the air, so these wretches, by means of the
air-loom and magnetic impregnations, con-
trive to lift into the brain some particular
idea, which floats and undulates in the in-
tellect for hours together ; and how much
soever the person assailed may wish to
direct his mind to other objects, and banish
the idea forced upon him, he finds himself
unable ; as the idea which they have kited
keeps waving in his mind, and fixes his at-

52

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

tention to tlie exclusion of other thoughts.
He is, during the whole time, conscious that
the kited idea is extraneous, and does not
belong to the train ot his own cogitations.

Sudden death- squeezing ; by them termed
hnhster-crachhig . — This is an external pres-
sure of the magnetic atmosphere surround-
ing tl^ person assailed, so as to stagnate his
circulation, impede his vital motions, and
produce instant death.

“ In short, I do not know any better
way fur a person to comprehend the
general nature of such lobster-cracking
operation, than by supposing himself in a
sufficiently large pair of nut- crackers or
lobster-crackers, with teeth, which should
pierce as well as press him through every
particle within and without ; he expe-
riencing the whole stress, torture, driving,
oppressing, and crush all together.”

ILLUSTRATIONS OP MADNESS.

33

Slomach-sMnning consists in rendering
the stomach raw and sore, as if it had been
scalded, and the internal coat stripped otf.

Apoplexy-working tvith the nutmeg-grater
consists in violently forcing the fluids into
the head ; and where such effort does not
suddenly destroy the person, producing
Small pimples on the temples, which are
raised, and rough like the holes in a nut-
meg-grater : in a day or two they gradually
die away.

Lengthening the brain. — As the cylindri-
cal mirror lengthens the countenance of the
person who views himself in such glass, so
the assailants have a method by which they
contrive to elongate the brain. The effect
produced by this process is a distortion
of any idea in the mind, whereby that
which had been considered as most serious

D

si ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

becomes an object of ridicule. All thoughts
are made to assume a grotesque interpreta-
tion ; and the person assailed is surprised
that his fixed and solemn opinions should
take a form which compels him to distrust
their identity, and forces him to laugh at
the most important subjects. It can cause
good sense to appear as insanity, and con-
vert truth into a libel ; distort the wisest
institutions of eivilized society into the prac-
tices of barbarians, and strain the Bible into
a jest book.

Thought-mahivg . — While one of these
villains is sucking at the brain of the person
assailed, to extract his existing sentiments,
another of the gang, in order to lead astray
the sucker (for deception-is practised among
themselves as a part of their system ; and
there exists no honor, as amongst thieves, in
the community of these rascals) will force
into his mind a train of ideas very difierent

illustrations of madness.

35

from the real subject of his thoughts, and
which is seized upon as the desired infor-
mation by the person sucking ; whilst he
of the gang who has forced the thought on
the person assailed, laughs in his sleeve at
the imposition he has practised.

hangh-inahiug consists in forcing the
magnetic fluid, rarified and subtilized, on
the vitals, [vital iouchhig'\ so that the
muscles of the face become screwed into a
laugh or grin.

Poking, or pushing up the quicksilver . —
When the person assailed possesses an in-
tellect sufliciently strong to be conscious of
his impregnation, he naturally revolts at
the atrocities practised upon him by the
workers of this infernal machine, and be-
comes prompted to express his indignation
Rt their perfidy. While in the act, as he
supposes, of venting the burst of indigna-

36

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

tion, they contrive to push a seeming thread
of fluid through his back diagonally in the
direction of his vitals. Its operation is in-
stantaneous. and the push appears to elevate
the fluid about half an inch. This magic
touch disarms the expression of his resent-
ment, and leaves him an impotent prey to
the malignity of their scorn and ridicule.

Bladdei'-jUUng is filling the nerves of
the neck with gaz, and by continued dis-
tension, effecting a partial dislocation of the
brain. This frequently repeated, produces
' weakness of intellect.

Tying-doum ; fettering the energy of the
assailed’s judgment on his thoughts.

Bomb -b 117 ' sting is one of the most dreadful
inflictions performed by the infernal agency
of the air-loom. The fluid which resides in
the brain and nerves, the vapor floating in

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

37

the blood-vessels, and the gaz which occu-
pies the stoiruich and intestines, become
highly rarified and rendered inflammable,
occasioning a very painful distension over
the whole body. Whilst the assailed per-
son is thus labouring, a powerful charge of
the electrical battery (which they employ
for this purpose^ is let off, which produces
a terrible explosion, and lacerates the whole
system. A horrid crasil is heard in the head,
and if the shock do not prove instantly
fatal, the party only recovers to express
his astonishment that he has survived the
murderous attempt.

Gaz-plucMng is the extraction of mag-
netic fluid from a person assailed, such fluid
having been rarified and sublimed by its
continuance in the stomach and intestines.-
This gaz is in great request, and considered
as the most valuable for the infernal pur-
poses of these wretches. They contrive, in a

38

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

very dexterous manner, to extract it from
the anus of the person assailed, by the suc-
tion of the air-loom. This process is per-
formed in a very gradual way, bubble by
bubble.

The explanation of the forem^ntioned

terms will enable the reader sufficiently to

»/

understand others which belong to the
science of assailment, as/bo^-c?/ri’»?g', lethar-
gy-making, spark- exploding, knee-nailing,
burning out, eye- screwing, sight -stopping,
roqf'-sti'inging, vital-tearing, fibre-ripping,
&c. &c. &c.

The correspondence between Mr. M. and
the members of this gang is kept up to a
considerable extent by brain- sayings, which
may be defined a sympathetic communi-
cation of thought, in consequence of both
parties being impregnated with the magne-
tic fluid, which must be rarified by frequent

IU.USTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

39

changing, and rendered more powerful
Ihe action of the electrical machine. It is not
hearing; but appears to be a silent convey-
ance of intelligence to the intellectual at-
mosphere of the brain, as subtilely as elec-
tricity to a delicate electrometer : but the
person assailed (if he be sufficiently strong
in intellect) is conscious that the perception
is not in the regular succession of his own
thoufihts. The first hint Mr. M. received

O

of the possibility of such sympathetic com-
munication was in France, before the period
of his confinement. He there, in one of
the prisons, became acquainted with a
Mr. Chavanay, whose father had been cook
to Lord Lonsdale. One day, when they
were sitting together, Mr. Chavanay said,
“ Mr. Matthews, are you acquainted with
the art of talking with your brains ?
Mr. M. replied in the negative. Mr. C. said,
“ It is effected by means of the magnet.

40

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

They likewise impart their thoughts to
him by voice- sayings. This is an immediate
conveyance of articulate sound to the audi-
tory nerves, without producing the ordinary
vibrations of air; so that the communica-
tion is intelligibly lodged in the cavity of the
ear, whilst the bystander is not sensible of
any impression.

Even during sleep they contrive to
annoy him with their dreain-ivorliingSy
which consist in the power they exert of
forcing their phantoms and grotesque images
on his languid intellect. These assas-
sins hold in their possession puppets of
uncouth shape, and of various descriptions ;
by looking steadily at which they can
throw the form into his brain, and thus
render the perception more vivid to the
dreamer ; and the crafty solicitude with
which they glean his waking opinions on
the mysteries which, during the night, have

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

41

danced in his imagination, is both wonder-
ful and distressing.

On some occasions ]Mr. M. has been able
to discern them ; but whenever he has been
watching their manoeuvres, and endeavour-
ing to ascertain their persons minutely, they
have appeared to step bach, and eluded his
search, so that a transient glimpse could
only be obtained.

“ Diffugieiit comites, et node tegetUur opnca.”

But the gang relate that they do not actually
step back ; but, at the moment when they
are observed, that they grasp a metal which
has the power of weakening the sympathy
between them and the person assailed, and
of benumbing his' perception. This metal
appears to be formed like a distaff or trun-
cheon, and two such are fixed on the top of
the machine. At other times, they have
pretended that each member or the gang is
furnished with a separate metal.

42

Itl.USTRATlONS OF MADNESS.

The annexed' hgure of the air-loom,
sketched by Mr. Matthews, together with
his explanations, will afford the necessary
information concerning this cnrious and
wonderful machine.

Heferejsces.

“ a a. The top of the apparatus, called by
the assassins air-loom machine, pneumatic
machine, &c. being as a large table.

b h. The metals winch the workers
grasp to deaden the sympathy.

“ c. The plaee where the pneumaticians
sit to work the loom.

“ d. Something like piano-forte keys,
which open the tube valves within the air-

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

43

loom, to spread or feed the warp of magne-
tic fluid.

“ e e. Levers, by the management of which
the assailed is wrenched, stagnated, and the
sudden-death efforts made upon him, &c.
The levers are placed at those points of
elevation, inz. the one nearly down, at
which I begin to let go my breath, taking
care to make it a regular, not in any way a
hurried breathing. The other, the highest,
is where it begins to strain the warp, and
by which time it becomes necessary to have
taken full breath, to hold till the lever was
so far down again. This invariably is the
vital-straining. But in that dreadful opera-
tion by them termed lobster-cracking, I al-
ways found it necessary to open my mouth
somewhat sooner than I began to take in
breath : I found great relief by so doing,
and always imagined, that as soon as the;
lever was at the lowest, (by which time I

44

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

had nearly let go my breath) the elasticity
of the fluid about me made it recoil from
the forcible suction of the loom, much in
the manner as a wave recoils or shrinks
back after it has been forced forward on
the sands in the ebbing or flowing of the
tide : and then remains solely upon its own
gravity, till the general flux or stress again
forces it forward in form of a wave. Such
appears to me the action of the fluid, which,
from the time the lever being fully down,
Joses all suction-force upon it. I always
thought that by so opening my mouth,
which many strangers, and those familiar
or about me, called sometimes singularity,
at others affectation and pretext, and at
others asthmatic, &c. instantly let in such
momentarily emancipated fluid about me,
and enabled me sooner, easier, and with
more certainty, to fill my lungs without
straining them, and this at every breathing.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

45

f. Things, apparently pedals, worked
by the feet of the pneumaticians.

“ g. Seemingly drawers, forming part
of the apparatus as eudiometer, &c. &c.

“ h. The cluster of upright open tubes
or cylinders, and by the assassins termed
their musical glasses, which I have so often
mentioned, and perceived when they were
endeavouring to burst my person, by ex-
ploding the interior of the cavity of the
trunk. I now find an exact likeness in the
Cyclopedia, which, being in electricity, is
termed a battery.

“ i. The apparatus mentioned as stand-
ing upon the air-loom, which the assassins
w'ere ever so watchful and active, by
deadening the sympathy, to prevent my
holding sight of ; so that I could never
ascertain what the bulky upper parts were,

46

ILLUSTRATIONS Of MADNESS,

although the lower parts have appeared as
distinct as the strength ot the drawing
shews. But I never had longer than the
slow-glimpse-sight.

“ Ji I m. The bulky upper parts, which,
though always indistinct, appeared once or
twice to be hid by an horizontal broad
projection, and which has often made
me query whether they rose through an

aperture of the cellar ceiling into the room
above, which the assassins’ brain-sayings
have frequently seemed to acknowledge.

“ n. The windmill kind of sails I have so
often mentioned, only seen by the glimpse
of sympathy ; and to prevent my judging
of which, the assassins w'ould dash with
full strong sympathy or brain-saying, ‘ a
whirligig,’ used by children for amusement.
But such w indmill ever appeared as stand-
ing on the table.

illustrations of madness. 47

“ 0. The barrels, which I perceived so
distinctly after such long watching, to catch
the sight of the famous goose-neck-retorts,
which, by the assassins, are asserted to be
about their loom, for supplying it with the
distilled gazes, as well poisoned as magne-
tic, but which did not expose the goose-
necks, which are here given, to shew the
kind the assassins have, during ten years,
some thousand times asserted they had : for
while I was dwelling upon retorts them-
selves, which I had expected to find of
metal, as stills, but which appeared dis-
tinctly hooped barrels standing on end on
the floor, they cut the sympathy, and have
ever since at all my attempts dashed or
splashed the inward nerves of vision to
bully and baffle me out of it.

“ p q V. That part of the brass apparatus,
so often seen distinctly of bright brass,
standing on a one step-high boarded floor,

48

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

having a bright iron railing around it, the ^
part not here shewn was never distinct.

“ s s. The warp of magnetic-fluid,
reaching between the person impregnated
with such fluid, and the air-loom magnets
to which it is prepared ; which being a
multiplicity of fine wires of fluid, forms the
sympathy, streams of attraction, repulsion,
&c. as putting the different poles of the
common magnet to objects operates ;
and by which sympathetic warp the assailed
object is affected at pleasure : as by open-
ing a vitriolic gaz valve he becomes tortured
bv the fluid within him; becoming agitated
with the corrosion through all his frame,
and so on in all their various modes of
attacking the human body and mind,
whether to actuate or render inactive ; to
make ideas or to steal others ; to bewilder
or to deceive ; thence to the driving with

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS. 49

rage to acts of desperation, or to the drop- '
ping dead with stagnation, &c. &c. &c.
Though so distinct to me hy sympathy I
have never caught the inward vision thereof,
not even by glimpse ; but the assassins
pretend, when heated, that it becomes
luminous and visible to them for some yards
from the loom, as a weakish rainbow, and
shews the colours according to the nature
of the gazes from which it is formed, or
wherewith the object is impregnated : as
green for the copper-streams or threads, red
for the iron, white for the spermatic animal-
seminal, &c.

“ t. Shews the situation of the repeaters,
or active worriers, when such were em-
ployed during the active exertions so long
made to worry me down.

u. One of the assassins called by the

£

50

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

rest Jack the Schoolmaster, who calls his
exertions to prevent iny writing or speaking
correctly, dictating, he ever intruding his
own style and endeavouring to torce it upon
me. He pretends to be the short-hand-
writer, to register or record every thing
which passes. He appears to have a seat
with a desk some steps above the floor.

{

“ V. The female of the gang called by
the others Charlotte : she has alw ays spoken
French, even by her brain-sayings ; but I
yet doubt whether she be a French woman,
though so much of that description of per-
son, for frequently it is English-French :
though this may be from their vocabulary
being English and French combined.

“ W. The one I call the common liar of
the gang, by them termed Sir Archy, who
often speaks in obscene language. There

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

51

has never been any fire in the cellar where
the machinery is placed.

“ X. Suppose the assailed person at the
greater distance of several hundred feet, the
warp must be so much longer directly
towards him, but the farther he goes from
the pneumatic machine, the weaker becomes
its hold of him, till I should think at one
thousand feet he would be out of danger.
I incline to think that at such distance or
little more, the warp would break, and that
the part nearest his person would withdraw
into him, and that next the loom w’ould
shrink into whatever there held it.

‘‘ Y. The middle man working the air-
loom, and in the act of Lobster-cracking the
person representsd by the figure X.

“ The assassins say they are not five hun-
dred feet from me ; but from the uncommon

52

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

force of all their operations, I think they
are much nearer.”

They have likewise related that many
other gangs are stationed 'in different parts
of the metropolis who work such instru-
ment for the most detrimental purposes.
Near every public office an air-loom is con-
cealed, and if the police were sufficiently
vigilant, they might detect a set of wretches
at work near the Houses of Parliarnent,
Admiralty, Treasury, &c. and there is a
gang established near St. Luke’s Hospital.
The force of assailment is in proportion
to the proximity of the machine; and it
appears that the interposition of walls
causes but a tritling difference : perhaps at
the distance of looo feet a person might be
considered out of the range of its inlluence.
Independently of the operation of this com-
plex and powerful machine termed an Air-
loom, which requires the person assailed to

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

53

be previously saturated with magnetic fluid,
a number of emissaries, who are termed
novices, are sent about in different directions
to prepare those who may hereafter he em-
ployed in the craft and mystery of event-
working. Ihis is termed Hand-impreg-
nation, and is effected in the following man-
ner : an inferior member of the gang, (gene-
rally a novice.) is employed in this business.
He is furnished with a battle contain-
ing the magnetic fluid which issues from a
valve on pressure. If the object to be
assailed be sitting in a coffee-house, the
pneumatic practitioner hovers about him,
perhaps enters into conversation, and during
such discourse, by opening the valve, sets
at liberty the volatile magnetic fluid which
is respired by the person intended to he as-
sailed. So great is the attraction between
the human body and this fluid, that the
party becomes certainly impregnated, and
is equally bound by the spell as the lady was

54

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

fixed to the chair of Comas, or the harmless
* fly is enveloped in the shroud of the spider.

In order to ascertain whether a person be
impregnated, let him, fasting, imitate the
act of swallowing, and if he should perceive
a grating noise in his ears, somewhat resem-
bling the compression of a new wficker-
basket he is certainly attained.

In consequence of the numerous gangs es-
tablished in this metropolis,' all the persons
holding high situations in the government
are held impregnated. An expert of the gang,
who is magnetically prepared, contrives to
place himself near the person of a minister of
state also impregnated, and is thus enabled
to force any particular thought into his
mind and obtain his reflections on the thought
so forced. — Thus, for instance, when a Se-
cretary at War is at church, in the theatre,

/

or sitting in his office and thinking on in-
different subjects; the expert maghetist

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

55

would suddenly throw into his mind the
subject of exchange of prisoners. The
Secretary would, perhaps, wonder how he
became possessed of such a subject, as it
was by no means connected with his
thoughts ; he w^ould how^ever turn the topic
in his mind and conclude that such parti-
cular principle ought to form the basis of
the negociation. The expert magnetist,
having, by w^atching and sucking, obtained
his opinion, would immediately inform the
French Minister of the sentiments of the
English Secretary, and by such means be-
come enabled to baffle him in the exchange.

The same process would take place with the
other ministers of state, and their opinions
would be communicated to the enemy on
the subjects of peace, commercial intercourse,
or the fitting out of armaments. Let the
plan be ever so well devised, the magnetists
would be certain to paralize and bewilder

56

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

the person chosen to command the expedi-
tion. This they effected in a very complete •
manner at Buenos Ayres, and still more re-
cently in the Island of Walcheren.

Notwithstanding the dreadful sufferings
which Mr. Matthews experiences from being
assailed, he appears to derive some consolation
from the sympathy which prevails between
himself and the workers of the machine. —
Perilous as his present situation may be, it
would be rendered still more alarming if he ,
could not watch their proceedings, and thus
be prepared to avert the force of their engine.
This reciprocal impregnation and conti-
nuity of warp enables him to perceive their
motions and attain their thoughts. Such
seems to be the law of this sympathy, that
mutual intelligence is the result ; nor can the
assailants, with all their skill and dexterity,
deprive him of this corresponding perception,
jn proportion as their scientific advancement

ILLt'STRATIONS OF MADNESS.

57

has instructed them in new and ingenious
arts of tormenting, the progression of hiS
experience has taught him to diminish the
force of their attacks.

These assassins are so superlatively skillful
in every thing which relates to pneumatic
chemistry, physiology, nervous influence,
sympathy, human mind, and the higher
metaphysic, that whenever their persons
shall be discovered, and their machine exhi-
bited, the wisest professors will be asto-
nished at their progress, and feel ashamed at
their owm ignorance. The gang proudly
boast of their contempt for the immature
science of the present aera.

Under all these persecutions and formi-
dable assailments, it is the triumph of Mr.
' M. that he has been enabled to sustain him-
self; and this resistance has depended on
the strength of his intellect and unremitting

58 ILLUSTRATIONS OF MAD?JESS.

vigilance. Whenever he has perceived
them about to make the wrench by suction,
he has recoiled as one expecting to receive
a blow shrinks back in order to avoid it.
Without such ability and precaution he must
long since have become the victim of
bomb-bursting, lobster-cracking, or apo-
plexy-working with the nutmeg-grater.

Having described the machinery and'
actors in-this “ insubstantial pageant” it now
only remains to aflbrd some idea of the na-
ture of Event-tuor¥wg, a science formerly
supposed to depend on eerlain positions of
the planetary system, and regulated by
heads of houses in the university of the
stars. Although much attention and some
valuable time have been lost in becoming
acquainted with this novel philosophy, yet
after repeated trials and painful efforts, the
writer has been unable adequately to explain
the manner of working an event, particularly

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

59

as the event is commemorated before it
occurs. From these embarrassments he has
been kindly relieved by ISIr. Matthews, who
has written down his ideas on the subject,
and from wdiose manuscript the following
pages are exhibited to the reader.

“ The assassins opened themselves by their
voices to me about Michaelmas 1 798, and
for several years called their infamies,
ivorJi'wg Jeats of arms, but seldom using the
term Event-ivorh'mg : though after four or
five years, when I, by perseverance, had
beat them out of their insolence of assump-
tion, (for they assumed the right of inter-
fering with every body having heraldic
bearings particularly, and for this part of
their villanies called themselves the efficient
persons to all those having titles to colleges
of arms,) and hy such titles also they used
the term event- working for their actions.

60

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

“ It is not an easy matter to define fully
any regular instance of such, their called
event-working, because they in every thing
introduced the names of some, or other per-
sonages, as concerned therewith, but who
certainly, were not only ignorant ot their
very existence, but more or less victims to
their abominations.

“ However, to shew what the nature of
such event-working is, namely, how infa-
mous human beings, making a profession of
pneumatic chemistry, and pneumatic mag-
netism, hire themselves as spies ; and by
impregnating persons, singled out by them as
objects for interfering with, obtaining their
secrets, actuating them in various ways, in
thought, word and deed, as well as they can,
to model their conduct, ideas or measures to
favour the ends of assassin spies or event-
workers, or their employers, &c. in bringing
about which ends they sometimes are years

ILLtSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

61

and many years, varying from mode to mode
from stratagem to stratagem, and sometimes
partially fail at last, according to the ditficulty
of getting near the object to operate upon, the
strength of such person’s nerves, brain, and
personal affections, as well as nature of soul,
&c, &c. The follov^hng, divested of their
offensive introductions may suffice, being a
few instances out of numberless events.

“ While T was detained in Paris by the
then existing French Government, during
the years 1793-4-5, and beginning of 179^>
I had ^even in the early part thereof, suffi-
cient information, to be certain that a regular
plan existed, and was furthering by persons
in France, connected with persons in Eng-
land, as well for surrendering to the French
every secret of the British Government, as
for the republicanizing Great Britain and
Ireland, and particularly for disorganizing
the British navy ; to create such a confusion

62

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS,

therein, as to admit tlie French armaments
to move without danger.

“ My sentiments having been resolutely
hostile to every such plan, , idea, and person
assisting therein, proved, (as the assassins
have ever avowed) the real cause of my
having had Gens d’armes placed with me to
prevent my return, and their having by such
magnetic means of workers in Paris ascer-
tained, that my said sentiments were so de-
termined for the counteracting such plans,
as well as others more dreadful in their na-
ture, that I should persevere even to the
loss of my life in my efforts to expose them.
They have ever avowed also ; that my having
immediately on my return set about exposing
the quoted infamies, occasioned a magnetic
spy to be appointed from each gang of event-
workers in London, specially to watch and
circumvent me : for that the chiefs of such
gangs tvere the real persons who were

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

63

cloked under certain names and titles used
in the information given me, and which I
have for years found such vile spy-traitor-
assassins called by among their fraternity.

“ That the persons mentioned by me in my
letters, narratives, &c. to each of the 1 79S
administration, and to the then Speaker of the
House of Commons as spies, whom I could
not discover, but found, as it were, before
me, behind me, and on every side of me,
every where, and in every thing (as w^as my
expression) w'ere magnetic spy-workers
coming from Paris, at the time I was trudg-
ing it from thence, and having the charge
of circumventing me ; and such were so
appointed by each of the London gangs,
event- working assassins : who having found
my senses proof against their fluid and hand-
wmrking, as it is termed, were employed to
actuate the proper persons to pretend 1 was
insane, for the purpose of plunging me into

64 - ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

a madhouse, to invalidate all I said, and for
the purpose of eonfinmg me within the mea-
sure of the Bedlam-attaining-airloom-warp,
making sure that by means thereof, and the
poisonous effluvia they used, they would by
such means keep me fully impregnated, and
which impregnation could be renewable
and aggravated at their pleasure, so as to
overpower my reason and speech, and
destroy me in their own way, while all
should suppose it was insanity which pro-
duced my death.

That not only sueh appointed spies, but ^
the whole phalanx of event- workers, all the
gangs rose up in arms against me; beeause
all depended during that year (179O) on
their disorganizing the British navy, which
they had undertaken to effeet, and had their
experts at work to bring about ; while my,
incessant and loud clamours, almost daily
writing to, or calling at the houses of one or

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

oa

other of all the ministers in their turn, con->
juring them to exert themselves to prevent
wretches from disorganizing the British
navy ; this obliged such experts and gangs
also, to have recourse to such caution till
they could get rid of me ; that in truth, they
could not make any way therein while I
was at large : and to this solely was owing
their not having been able to fulfil their
engagements with the French, to have the
British fleet in confusion by the time stipu-
lated ; and which inability from such fear,
more than the storm, forced General Hoche,
whose armament was called the Avant-Garde
of the intended French invasion to return as
he came. And they have ever pretended
that Hoche, having been exasperated against
the workers, spoke bitterly of them, and
was by one of their experts oict: (viz.
destroyed by poisonous magnetic fluid, which
kills by possessing itself of the hollows ot

F

66

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

the nerves, and does not affect the stomach,
vitals, &c, as poysons in substance,) in order
to prevent him from publishing the existence
of the profession.

“ That finding it much easier to actuate all
the ministers, magistrates, &c. to the folly
of pretending me mad, than to make me
desist from exerting myself to expose the
plots and plans of such assassins, they adopted
this course, and at last contrived my being
forced into Bedlam, where they have ever
sworn, they will by hook or by crook hold
me ; and some thousand times during the
last twelve years, sworn I should never get
out of their clutches alive, unless I forgave
them ; but they know all compromise with
them is impossible.

“ That having me safely immured, the ex-
perts went to work again boldly, and then,
in less than three months blew up that

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

67

flame in the British navy, ■which threw the
three great fleets into open mutiny, about
Easter 1797 : that this proving to the then
ministry their danger, from their having
mocked, and (by their tools, which as well
as the ministers themselves, were tools in
the hands of event-working assassins) im-
prisoned me ; they then became so alarmed
on the second mutiny of the Nore fleet,
under Parker, a man actuated by magnet-
working experts, that they opened the Trea-
sury doors, and instead of attending to me,
cost the nation near one hundred thousand
pounds in secret service money, to quell the
mutiny at the Nore, and prevent its again
bursting out at Portsmouth, Plymouth, &c.
and that to avoid the expenditure being no-
ticed, as such, means were contrived to work
it into the accounts, as for other purposes
at earlier periods.

“ It has ever been their custom to actuate

C8

ILLUSTUATIONS OF MADNF.SS.

every one to insult or ill-treat me; they
could give their time to actuate, and then
to swear to avenge it, and make a merit of
event- working, to bring disgrace or injury
upon such persons : never indeed, to benefit
me ; but as pursuing their systems of vil-
lany, calling me their Propertij and Talis-
man, bringing persons under what they call
their Fluid-balances against me ; perse-
cuting and making murderous efforts upon
me: using the name or expression, or the
presence of particular persons as their au-
thority, and then pretending, because I with-
stood them, tliat they had a right ag:iinst
such persons, or whom they called such
persons duplicates to.

•

“ Hence they ever asserted that Mr. Pitt
was not half able to withstand mag-netic
fluid in its operative effect, but became
actuated like a mere puppet by the expert-
magnetists employed in such villanies :

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

G9

that every one of his colleagues and suc-
cessors to the present moment, have proved
equally actuable, though some more, some
less, jNIr. Grey having proved the strongest,
though not full proof : and pretending in
their efforts to eajole me, that my having,
(though not acquainted with him, and not-
withstanding his refusing to attend to ??2e in
1790>) entertained a sort of friendly opinion
for him, was the sole means of preserving his
life when first Lord of the Admiralty. They
say,thathavingreadin myjumbled narratives
the facts of traitor efforts to disorganize the
navy, and even after the meeting, not only
left me to linger here under their incessant
murdering efforts, but accepted the office of
first Lord of the Admiralty ; the die was
cast against him in their system of event-
working, and he was to be put out, a term
they use for their murdering any one. In
truth, they did frequently say to me, when
he took upon him the office, ‘ fFe JiavG

70 illustrations of madness.

event -tvorTied that ; he is to he hilled there :
and I mentioned it to several : but as all des-
pised me and said it was insanity, I did not
waste so much breath, together with pen,
ink and paper, as I had done to expose the
assassin’s assertions respecting their putting
out Mr. Pitt, which they truly effected.

“ That the final order having been given to
put out Mr. Grey by the pneumatic magne-
tists having in charge the Admiralty De-
partment, for attaining its secrets, actuating
its members, &c. the moment was deter-
mined on, and he actuated to be in a given
place by the time. That this being well
known as it proceeded, another .magncitist
contrived to puppet one of their prepared
victims to be there also ; and the fluid of
this person (a Sir Michael Le Fleming,)
having been rendered more attractive than
Mr, Grey’s ; the wrench took hold of Sir
Michael instead of Mr. Grey, and killed him

ILtUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

71

on the spot ; while, they say, by the force,
Mr. Grey would have escaped with a rupr
ture like the late Duke of Bedford, or the
bursting of some blood-vessels which would
not have produced death. Then they cried
* It's ylio (you) that presearved (preserved)
him,' in their affected provincial jargon ;
for provincial is not their real language.
During some weeks previous to this, they
had been ripping at my ventricles by their
air-loom-force: a dreadful operation it is!
They pretended they worked Mr. Grey into
the foreign office, where he might have the
means of knowing the reality of the ad-
vances made by France to the British Go-
vernment through me\n 1 / 03 , and the folly
of his chief friend Lord Grenville, thereupon,
and then they said an expert was preparing
a puppet to be actuated commemoratively,
as Lord Grenville and his friends were to be
made to act politically. Every time 1 saw
the Pliilanthropic Insurance advertisements

72 ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

signed William Ludlam, which was daily,
they would cry ‘ Volla le Victhnc,' then
‘ Thai's his Liidship, Erskbie, Grenville,'
and by brain-saj ing, refer to Mr. Erskine’s
modeof speech, for his Lordship pronouncing
nearly Ludship, and say that William Lud-
lam meant William Lud Grenvile, and
touching the fluid in my vitals, would make
.me quite sorry. When Ludlam, pistol in
hand, attempted to tyrant it over the master
as well as the waiter of the London Tavern,
they said ‘ It's exact. C’est ainsi,' and
to his jumping through the window also,
they would cry ‘ C’est ainsi aussi,’ and
‘ Leighton, Sir JVilliam, we puppetecl yho,
there to commemorate’ Some time after,
when Ludlam was taken, Lord Erskine or-
dered him under the care of Dr. Monro,
and prohibited the Lord Mayor’s warrant
from being served against him. T'here they
would cry ‘ his Ludship,’ and then brain-
say the subject as before. Then ‘ Ween,

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

(we will) puppet yho also,' and brainsay,

‘ IV 3 tL'ill actuate Ersldne Monroish, yet'
I mentioned their pretexts and sent ont a me-
morandum thereupon, stating that, though
they were active to prevent my perceiving
all their drift, I feared they intended to
make Lord Erskine mad ; for they often
asserted, that with but half stress on the
fluid wdth which he was impregnated, he
would become weak in, intellect ; and as it
was to my wdfe, 1 could not help saying,
^Notwithstanding the readiness to act as
Counsel for me in 1 797, w'hich Mr. Erskine
professed, yet, when you called upon him
to ask him from me to mention my case and
imprisonment in Bedlam in the House of
Commons, he would not do so ; and for
which the assassins boasted once they stag-
nated him in the House of Commons, by
an air-loom warp, attaining him from no
great distance ; and would have killed him
afterwards there as an example in their pre-

7i

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

texts but for my exposing their infamous
threats ; he now cares no more for me
than he does for the dogs in the street.’
‘ Enough (they cried) tuell shew you' At
a subsequent time when it was said that the
Lord Chancellor^ passing along Holborn^
saw several persons pursuing and beating a
dog in order to kill him, pretending he was
mad ; ‘Aye , (they cried) that's as you say
ice pursue you peltmg you ivith our mur~
dering efforts ;' but he not thinking any
madness appeared about him, ran into the
midst of them, and taking the dog up in his
arms, rescued him from their fury, and
ordered him to be conveyed to his stables
and taken care of : ‘ Yes, (said they) that
part is the derision of the event ; we have
commemorated your u'ords ; he does care
ahouf the dog, but you may lie in the stable
(a term used by them for being placed on
tlie incurable establishment in Bedlam) and
he damned.

illustrations of madness. 75

" When the change of Ministry came
about, then they asked, ‘ Noiu ivliere s
poor hudlom ?’ He was actuated to a thought,
that, with pistols pointed to them, he could
force the parties to yield to him ; but the
good sense of the master of the tavern left
him no alternative but to jump through the
window and be off — brainsaying, that Lord
Grenville and Co. were also endeavouring to
establish their philanthropic assurance to the
Catholics, thinking to make as much more
than legal interest thereby, as Lud-lam and
his partizans did by their philanthropic as-
surance, to gain them 8 per cent, besides
bonuses frequently and as Lud-lam had first
opponents in his own party or subscribers,
and then for his pistolling was forced through
the window, so Lord Grenville, after having
endeavoured to force the M aster to comply
w'ith his wishes, was in turn forced through
the window into the street, a term among
them for turned out. Lud Erskine and some

IM-USTr.ATlONS OF MADNESS.

'IG

others were Lord Grenville and Co’s, oppo-
nents in the cabinet to the philanthropic
efforts to make more than common interest.
They pretended they worked Ludlam into
Dr. Monro’s hands, as completing the event
of my being in them : asserting, that the
Nvorking the former ./Vdministration out, and
Lord Grenville in, the rendering all their
measures abortive, and then pushing them
on to be turned out, was to commemorate
and retaliate upon them, for their parts in
the persecution and imprisonment I expe-
rienced.”

SECOND EVENT- W'OKKING.

“ I ought not to omit mentioning, that
about three or four years since, when the
assassins so much boasted that a great deal
of fluid prepared by them was sent to im-
pregnate the Mollys, as they termed Molleu-

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

7T

doj'f, Brunswick, Kamenskoi, &c. to make
fools of them in the battles the eventr
workers were working to produce : they said
Russia must be weighed by me, crying,

‘ 11 e told you that you ivere Buonaparte $
talisman, and that ive ivould work him up
to as high a pitch of grandeur by the pos-
session of you, as tve woidd fix you degraded
below the common level of human nature,"
(an expression often indeed used by them in
menaeing me during the years they so
threatened to murder my son and all my
family, if I would not forgive them : and
would not only counteract me in every thing, ^
but make every person presenting himself
mock and ridicule me, and kill me at last,
either secretly or openly, for that I should
never escape out of their clutches alive ; and
after having asserted they would bring Russia
to the balances for a few months, they cried
< Yho are coming,' brainsaying, that a mag-
netic fluid impregnated Russian was coming.

78

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

Soon it was '^announced through Bedlam,
that some of the Royal Family were coming
—preparations were made to receive them,
when, lo ! as the party entered the gallery,
while the assassins were crying, ‘ Noiv for
it, u'e ivill play you ojf,' brain-saying, they
should actuate him while they tortured me.
One of the patients came to tell me that it
was not any of the Royal Family, but the
Duke of Somerset and the Russian Am-
bassador who were coming down. ‘ -^yc,
aye! (said the assassins) we told you ive
would give ijou notice^ and began to tor-
ture and fluid-lock me, viz. binding all the
small nerves and fibres so numerous about
the parts composing the root of the tongue,
which prevents regularity of speech, and
forces me to speak rather slower and to be
guarded at every word to prevent stammer-
ing. When the party came to my cell, five
or six of them, I began to explain to them
the manner in which I was assailed, and
describe to them the nature of it, enquiring

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS. 79

If they understood Pneumatic Science, &c.
His Grace was with his left arm on the cor-
ner of my bed, and the party generally,
politely attentive; but one of them attracted
my notice from his seeming to become a
little restless, going out of the cell, and not
attending to what I was stating. The as-
sassins said, ‘ That's the victim' A few
days after, I learned that this person was
the Russian Count Pahlin ; the assassins
chuckling, often asked me if I remembered
the Russian with arms too short for his per-
son, and an impediment in his speech, say-
ing, ‘ It will he all over ivith the Mollys.'
Every thing was then quiet, but it was not
long before Prussia began to be agitated,
and this brought on the war which beat it
and the Russians out of the field, and left
the Count Pahlin dead upon it.'’

By this time it is probable that the curi-

so

illustrations of madness.

osity of the reader is sufficiently satisfied
concerning the mischievous and complicated
science of event- working. Although the
fable may be amusing, the moral is perni-
cious. The system of assail ment and work-
ing events deprives man of that volition
which eonstitutes him abeing responsible for
hisactions, andpersons not so responsible, in
the hilmble opinion of the writer ought not to
he at large. After the commission of mur-
der or treason, it would be considered ah
inadequate defence for the perpetrator to
, alledge that he had been irresistibly actuated
by the dexterous manoeuvres of Bill, or
the Middle man ; nor is it at all probable,
that the accurate records of Jack the School-
master would be admitted as evidence in a
court of law.

There are already too many maniacs al-
lowed to enjoy a dangerous liberty, and the
Governors of Bethlem Hospital, confiding

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MADNESS.

81

in the skill and integrity of their medical
officers, were not disposed to liberate a mis-
chievous lunatic to disturb the good order
and peace of society. These gentlemen can
have no advantage in detaining a person in
confinement who has recovered his senses.
Their interest consists in the numbers who
are restored to the community and their
triends ; and their only reward the incense
which Gratitude projects on the altar of
Reason.

FINIS.

Lo.VDON :

Printed hy G. Haydeyi, Brydges Street, 0>vent Garden.

1) I G R M . or Rltm of rJic i'oRar. or 2
t/irw .flpparotus j- Mehrtrvc J2ositions , !

*1

Jack -Uu'
Sfinu-OnasUr
iilwtiy.' sa/nc
Joiititm

M

i

. -<?

2

•5}

• ' 4

■ 4
♦»7

1

\

I

Accession no.

YUL tr.

Author Haslam, John
Illustrations of
madness...

1810.

Call no.

18th Cent.